“And if I said that we are running from vigilantes and the law, would it change anything?” he asked.
She lowered her gaze and he caught a split-second of disappointment, maybe even devastation, but then she lifted her chin with defiance and her eyes fixed on him with a smoky look that told him it didn’t really matter.
“I just need to know one thing,” she said with a delicate softness. “What’s that?”
“Why are you running with the Durango gang?”
Why? Good question. He winced as a multitude of emotions shot through him. Anger. Loss. Despair. Fighting the people who lined their pockets on the misery and desperation of others really wasn’t his business. But after losing his daughters, his wife, and his life, he’d needed a reason to stay alive. How did he explain that to her?
“Let’s just say it’s something I need to do.”
She smiled, seemingly satisfied with his vague answer.
“Come on, let’s go see what they did.” He tugged her hand and was pleased she easily followed.
Chapter Ten
He led her behind the barn to the glass greenhouse. It was a large building, sheltered from the north by the barn. The greenhouse was about fifty feet long by about forty feet wide. Only the southern exposure consisted of glass panes. Some panes were broken and patched haphazardly with plastic sheets.
“They did a wonderful job with the door,” she exclaimed as she let go of his hand and ran to the greenhouse. She examined the leather strips that the guys had nailed to the door and the frame of the building.
“They made hinges out of the leather!” she gushed.
“It appears they are handier than I thought.” Logan chuckled as she shook her head in amazement.
“The old rusty metal hinges snapped in two and right off a few weeks back during a really bad wind storm when I accidentally left the door ajar one time.”
“Those storms can be scary,” he admitted.
The thought of her enduring frightening storms all by herself out here snapped at his protective side. He forced himself to push that feeling aside.
“I didn’t have any replacements. They cost an arm and a leg in town, so I just moved the door back and forth. And it was always so heavy. Sometimes I was so tired I couldn’t move it into place as best as it should have and the building lost lots of heat.”
He inspected their handiwork and felt proud at how tight the door fit the frame and the fact they’d screwed in a heavy-duty leather loop that would fit over a long nail and would help keep the door closed. The door was a sheet of heavy-duty glass framed by solid oak and certainly did look heavy. Too heavy for a pretty woman.
Oh, man, she needed help around here. He could clearly see that. She needed someone to slap a coat of white paint on the farmhouse, some red paint on the barn. Fill in the cracks of the foundation in the buildings. Replace the shingles fluttering off the roof of the farmhouse.
She needed a man around here to help her run the place. To protect her from storms and creeps like that banker-sheriff who one day wouldn’t take no for an answer from her. She needed a man… like himself?
He jolted at that thought and cursed silently to himself. He wasn’t through with his revenge. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
She opened the greenhouse door with ease and ushered him inside. It smelled of earth and flowers in here. It smelled normal.
They stopped just inside the door where she reached for an oil lamp hanging on a post. She struck a match from a match box she unwrapped from a plastic encasing, and in an instant, a buttery glow from the lamp fell across her face.
Her eyes were twinkling with pride as she led him down the main aisle. There were many rows filled with boxes lining both sides of the aisle. Boxes filled with dirt. Some, to his surprise, had little green sprouts shooting up. Other boxes were bare of dirt or had dirt but no plants. While other boxes contained plants in various stages of growth. He recognized carrot tops and spinach. One box was filled with Boston lettuce. Other boxes were filled with plants he didn’t recognize. But it all looked so healthy, and he felt pride sift through him that this woman wasn’t as helpless out here as he’d thought.
“Impressive,” he commented as the warmth of the room caressed his face while he looked around.
The floor was dirt and instantly he knew she’d be better off with a wooden floor with a couple of inches of Styrofoam insulation beneath the floor boards. The insulation would certainly improve the heat possibilities.
He was surprised to hear the buzzing of bees nearby and noticed several of them hugging yellow flowers on what sure as hell looked like tomato plants. In one corner, he noticed a couple of white wooden boxes and a bee buzzing there as well. Amazing.
“My husband and I put the greenhouse together from a kit, shortly after we moved in here.”
Pride echoed in her voice. He could tell she missed her husband, and that familiar fluttering of jealousy zipped through him again. Cripes, he appeared to be jealous of a dead man.
“Over here is my prize possession.” Happiness bubbled through her voice and sweet laugh lines whispered along the sides of her eyes as she led him to a box laden with dirt and plants topped with large white flowers. Each flower had three white petals and three large green leaves.
Shock and surprise exploded through him. “Trilliums? Where did you get them?” Wow, he hadn’t seen trilliums since before the Catastrophe!
“I dug up bulbs a couple of years ago. I remembered I had some in planters out back. When they didn’t sprout, I dug them up and transplanted them in here. I know it takes up space for something that would be useful like turnips or carrots-”
He stopped her talking by placing a finger on her warm lips. Man, he was acquiring a habit of doing that, wasn’t he?
“I’m babbling, aren’t I?” she said against his finger.
“You don’t need to explain to me why you need flowers. It’s obvious.”
Her eyes widened in question.
“Because you don’t have a man who brings you flowers,” he explained and loved the way her eyes smiled at him. She liked his teasing. He liked her.
Her lips moved sweetly against his finger as she smiled.
I’ll be that man. He really should say it out loud. He was tempted to say it, but that freaking northern lights thing began flashing across the glass panes of the greenhouse, distracting him.
He should have gotten used to those lights by now, but sometimes they just threw off his concentration. Or more likely he was using the Areola Borealis, as he liked to call it, as an excuse to not think about how he really wanted to be the one to bring her flowers every morning. Because he suddenly ached to do just that, to bring her flowers and tell her how much he loved those crinkles at the sides of her eyes when she smiled.
“What’s got you all quiet all of a sudden? What are you thinking?” she asked softly.
That I want to settle down here with you. The thought of doing that sent an ache so severe shooting through him, it literally felt like a punch to his stomach.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, and to his surprise, she stabbed her warm tongue against the finger he still held against her lips.
“Nothing’s wrong, baby. Show me the rest of the greenhouse. Like how do you manage to keep it so warm in here at night?”
He dropped his hand and looked around the building. Noticed several barrels lining the west wall.
“Solar panels on top of the roof keep the water in the barrels warm. At night, the warmth evaporates from the barrels and keeps the air warm and moist. The rest of the place is insulated. I’m saving up for materials to put in a floor that can produce radiant heat. Then I can grow produce that can’t stand the cold, like berries. God, what I wouldn’t give for strawberry shortcake.” She grinned and continued. “When I start selling produce, I won’t charge and arm and a leg…hmm, I should rephrase that, shouldn’t I? I’m not into eating humans…”
She let her words trail off and her cheeks flushed pink. He wondered if she was remembering taking Cassidy’s cock in her mouth earlier today and Logan yesterday. Just remembering how nice and tight she sucked, had him hardening again.
